Is it time to worry about BYU’s defense after 2OT loss to previously punchless UCF?

ORLANDO, Fla. — With ever-improving sophomore Bear Bachmeier at the controls and star running back LJ Martin due back some time in November, BYU’s offense should continue to be a force in the second half of the season.

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But what about BYU’s defense, which has forced only one turnover in its last three games — that fluky fumble of a spike attempt by Notre Dame QB CJ Carr — and was gouged for 463 yards by a heretofore ordinary offense using a backup quarterback in Saturday’s devastating 39-31 loss to now 4-3 UCF in two overtimes?

After looking stout and solid in last week’s 28-24 win over powerful Notre Dame — which had a bye Saturday — the BYU defense recorded only three tackles for loss against the Knights and sacked shifty senior QB Keyone Jenkins just once, for a 4-yard loss.

“I wish I could sit here and just complain about the stuff that we did, but UCF put us on our heels and put us in some uncomfortable positions and actually did some really good things,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “So I want to give them a lot of credit for what they’ve done, and they deserved to win.”

Sure, the Knights got the two extra possessions in overtime to tack on more yards and were the beneficiaries of a controversial roughing-the-kicker penalty that enabled them to turn three points into eight. But the ease in which they scored in the first overtime was troubling for BYU. Receiver Josh Derry was all alone for a 25-yard touchdown reception on the first play after Jenkins was able to scramble out of trouble.

BYU defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga’s hoped-for “six seconds of havoc” did not happen often enough in front of 45,112 at Acrisure Bounce House for the Cougars to avoid an upset that left UCF players, coaches and fans celebrating and partying well into the night.

BYU entered the contest with a top-10 rushing defense, then proceeded to allow UCF to rush for 170 yards, the most yards BYU has allowed on the ground in 13 games dating back to last season. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect to the game for BYU’s defense was the missed tackles, including two when UCF converted a 3rd-and-17 situation with a 56-yard catch-and-run by freshman Tyren Hornes.

“First off, I just want to credit UCF. They played their butts off and they had a great game plan,” said BYU linebacker Cade Uluave. “Really, it just came down to them executing, and we struggled, obviously. I think this is a learning experience and something that we need to learn from and take on the chin. … We are gonna have to take a long look in the mirror at ourselves, take it on the chin, and ultimately get better.”

Of the Knights’ 293 receiving yards, 179 came on yards after the catch (YAC).

Sitake credited UCF’s players for being difficult to tackle.

“I think a couple of things (contributed to BYU’s poor tackling), maybe lack of technique, but also great skill in space,” Sitake said. “Going against UCF, they have some great skill in space, made us miss, and it caused a lot of issues for us. And I think they tackled better than we did.”

Did UCF simply want it more?

“I think they were just really hungry for this game,” Sitake said. “I can’t say that we weren’t hungry because it was a good battle back and forth. I don’t want to diminish anything UCF has done because they are a quality team. We just happened to run into them at the wrong time. You can’t make some of the mistakes that we made and expect to beat great teams like that.”

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Sitake added that if UCF continues to play like that, “they can beat anybody, and we found that out today.”

BYU had won 26 straight games when scoring 24 or more points, and 18 straight games when scoring 30 or more points. So the offense did its job, mostly.

Perhaps not wanting to turn the ball over deep in their own territory, BYU got conservative after a terrific goal line stand and went three-and-out there.

“Yeah, that goal line stand was sweet, and shout out to everybody who was on the field at that time for making a play,” Uluave said. “We had a lot of opportunities to be able to make the game a different outcome. I think is is important to not give away so many opportunities and when that happens we have to capitalize on the opportunities that we are given.

“I think coach Kalani hit it on the head,” Uluave continued. “It sucks, but we’re going to own it and take it. Obviously, we gotta improve and get better.”

Evan Johnson carried off the field

The Cougars’ defense also got nicked up, as star cornerback Evan Johnson suffered a late injury and had to be carried to the locker room by a couple of BYU trainers while UCF was storming the field. Johnson’s father, former NFL receiver Ron Johnson, was summoned to the postgame locker room to comfort his son by some BYU administrators.

“Yeah, we have to evaluate it. I don’t know exactly the injury, but they’re still looking at him right now,” Sitake said. “So that’s unfortunate because he’s one of the best corners (in) the country. We will have to see what that looks like. We had a couple guys go down. This conference is tough and there’s a lot of great teams in this conference. We’re gonna have to test some of our depth and see if those guys can perform better than what we did today.”

Offensive lineman Trevin Ostler also got hurt and was on crutches after the game. Sitake said that starting right guard Kyle Sfarcioc should be available this Saturday against Arizona State (1:30 p.m. MDT, Fox).

The Sun Devils improved to 4-3 overall with a 28-17 win over Kansas State on Saturday in Tempe.

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